Thanks for posting this, Kozmos. This particular story -- as it was happening and the U.S. media was reporting it -- made me the most disenchanted with the media, the government, and the military as a whole.
Every reporter told us for over a week that she had been shot multiple times and stabbed multiple times. It was also reported that while she was in the hospital, she was beaten and raped repeatedly. And courageous U.S. soldiers plotted and staged a rescue mission, sneaking her out past armed guards.
All bullshit.
When I first learned that she had indeed not been shot or stabbed, it was when her father was interviewed after he'd talked to Jessica. So this was at least a week after the story broke. And then we learned of Mohammed, the Iraqi who walked SIX MILES, truly risking his and his family's lives, to approach armed U.S. soldiers and tell them about her. But he's always mentioned as a sidenote, while Jessica is called the hero.
That week that we were told she'd been shot and stabbed -- it was every station saying that, not just Fox. I heard it from reporters I had previously trusted. That's not to say it's their fault entirely -- they report what they're told, and a downside of this embedded-journalist program is that they give unconfirmed reports that lack the bigger picture.
But anyway, it completely dissolved any trust I had in the American media to report on this war accurately. "People" magazine ran a cover article with her on it a few weeks ago, and in the letters to the editor of the most recent issue, two praised Jessica, blah blah blah, and the other two chastised the paper for calling Jessica the hero instead of Mohammed and even pointed out that Mohammed on the cover wouldn't have sold as many magazines. So at least some people in this country understand that, and at least "People" printed those letters.
I hope that Jessica makes the truth clear. We'll see when the TV movie airs. And I also hope that she somehow gets in contact with the hospital staff. To the U.S.'s credit, they did bring Mohammed and his family here and set him up with a pretty cushy government job, I believe.
